Shadow Phoenix
by Emocatdraogon
Summary: What happens when two friends get together and have nothing to do? However one lives in the UK and the other in Ohio? They write this story about a human named Blake and a Draco-Hume called Hakuemi Namida.


Okay this is my first time trying to publish on here. _**This is the voice in Blake's thinking to him. **Normal thoughts of any character._ "And speaking like usual". This may be hard to read because my friend and I wrote this together, but he lives in the UK and well I live in Ohio. lol ^.^''

It was ridiculous. Blake's client, one "distraught local" had insisted that Blake begin his search for the werewolves he was supposed to kill in the middle of the day. It wasn't even a full moon! He made a mental note to not listen to distraught locals ever again. No matter how much money they offered him. Secretly not expecting to find anything, Blake scurried along. At least he was being paid to not find anything. It was common knowledge that werewolves never came out during the day (that's if they even took on werewolf form beyond a full moon). Still, Blake held his P90, which he'd just converted so that it could fire silver bullets, close to his body. Just in case.

It had all started a couple of months ago. Locals from a small village deep in the great woods had started dissapearing every full moon. It was quickly determined that the party responsible had been one or more werewolves. Blake had come across them before. Hence his decision to covert his P90 into a silver bullet firing sub-machine gun of the same name. He held it close, pointing the laser where he wanted the bullets to go. He wasn't going to make stupid mistake just by being complacent.

That was easier said than done. Due to the seasons, the sheer heat of the forest made Blake dizzy. He had to take off his coat and roll up his sleeves before continuing any further. His face was beaded with sweat and he was short of breath. After all, he was using quick movements to conduct his search in nearly hundred degree heat. Next time he'd have to bring a water bottle. With that thought in mind he sighed and stopped where he was. A refreshing breeze suddenly blew through the clearing, he sat, soaking it up while it lasted (which wasn't as long as he'd hoped). Again he was left with nothing but the static heat that seemed to only suck the strength right out of him. He laid down against a tree and closed his eyes, hoping to catch a quick nap. After all, he deserved a break every now and again.

Namida walked along in the woods childishly. She had a smile on her face the whole time as she followed a rather large lizard. The lizard itself was around ten feet tall and had glistening forest green scales. The tongue of the reptile would flicker in and out smelling for its next meal. Most people would be afraid of such a mighty reptile, but Namida simple loved watching it. Plus she could get right up to the lizard and touch its rough scales without worrying.

After a few hours of following the lizard Namida got tired from the sickening heat as did the giant reptile. So she hopped onto its back and motioned it to a more shaded area. "Hey lizard-san, over there looks nice, please can we go there?" Namida asked as the lizard changed its corse. It listened for the simple reason that Namida had an aura around her that made reptiles and mystical creatures truest her. That was part of an elementalist job after all, listen to the spirits and voices around you.

Namida jumped off the lizard's back and ran into the shade. Unfortunately she wasn't paying much attention and tripped over something. Namida fell face first with a thud. She got up and brushed herself off. When she looked over to see what caught her she saw a boy around sixteen with a gun. A small panic grew inside her.

Namida jumped back gracefully a few feet and had her hands by her swords. "I-I'm sorry," Namida said honestly, but being very careful.

Blake lazily opened an eye part way. He must've dozed off, cause he couldn't remember this girl arriving. He didn't know why he'd woken up. Last thing he could remember was being lectured by some commoner... gah! Blake shook his head, quite violently. He quickly jumped up, using his back to land on his feet before standing up straight with his P90 laying dormant at his side. While he did keep it loaded, he didn't have the safety off. He'd heard about a few people who'd shot themselves in the foot whilst they were sleeping. And Blake twitched in his sleep (what little he had). He didn't know how long he'd laid there. But he did know that he was awake now. And not by choice either.

"Don't do it again." Blake said, almost glaring. Almost.

He knew what he'd said was probably going to piss her of. Heck, he'd even stick his last credit on it. But he didn't care. Maybe it was the fact he hadn't slept in three days. Maybe it was the Seraph gene's finally getting to his head. Either way, he wasn't in a mood for a 'friendly little chat', and by the way this girl was holding her hands, by the hilt of her blade, he doubted that she was either. Not that he wanted a fight. Far from it. He just wanted like what seemed like his weekly nap. Now that he'd been deprived of it he wasn't in any kind of mood to be courteous. Not that he wasn't capeable of it.

Namida watched Blake for a long time, her gaze unmoving. After another few minutes Namida sighed and closed her eyes slightly. The sun was getting to her causing her to grow ever so sleepy. Without much thought Namida let out a yawn and stretched her arms out. Her eyelids felt heavy as the sun danced its marvelous heat rays onto her. Namida then snapped out of her daze and looked back at the boy. "What are you doing out here anyways?" Namida asked trying to sound polite through her tired voice.

Slowly Namida started to sink down to the ground. After a few seconds she was leaning against a tree a few feet a crossed from the boy. She knew better than to show weakness in front of a stranger, but this time it could not be helped. Namida yawned slightly, yet again, then rubbed the tears out of her eyes. "I guess it would be better if I left you alone wouldn't it? I'm Hakumei Namida sorry for bothering you," Namida mumbled as she fell over on her right side slowly drifting off even though she tried to stay awake.

_**You've got to be kidding me...** _

Blake shook his head, as if trying to shake off some kind of numbness that had swept over him. This girl... Namida, she looked familiar. He'd probably passed her in the street before. Nothing special. He walked over and squatted next to her head.

"You shouldn't sleep there." he said, referring to the fact that she was laying in the sun, "If you lay in the sun you'll get heat stroke."

He was going to add, 'I would know', but decided not to, having only just met this person.

_**C'mon. Just shoot her and be done with it.** _

_No. Shut up. That's not an option. _

_**How is that? You've got the gun, just aim it and pull the trigger. Is that so hard?** _

_You know what I meant. Just shut up and get back in your little cage. _

_**You don't order me around, Blake. You don't order me around.** _

Blake shook his head again. Horus was being a lot more active as of late. Probably that time of the month for him...

That made Blake laugh. Albeit slightly louded than he would've hoped. Shaking his head again he walked back into his shaded area and sat down. Apparently already having forgetten about the girl. He closed his eyes. Trying to drift to sleep. He opened them after no more than ten seconds. Deciding that he wouldn't be able to get to sleep anyway. He'd just rest up for a bit, then continue his search.

Namida lazily opened one of her eyes and looked at the boy sitting in the shade. She smiled softly. "Though if I stay in the shade I'll freeze to death. The sun feels rather nice today, the breeze helps a lot too." Namida said calmly as tucked her hands under her head. It was true a light breeze just started to pick up when Namida mentioned it. Also the sun felt nice and warm to the girl. She disliked the cold so the warm sun rays where just her favorite thing. Namida then sat up after laying in the sun for several minutes.

"Why do you carry a gun? Are you trying to kill something?" Namida asked with a slighter serious tone. "Are you one of those poachers?" Namida asked slightly tensing at the thought. If he was then . . . Namida shook her head from side to side casting the evil thoughts away. After a few more minutes Namdia stood up and shifted her weight back and forth uneasily. Lots of people wanted to kill her and now she was starting to worry about this guy too.

"Poacher?" he laughed, thinking that she was joking. But stopped and looked at her nervously once he realised she wasn't. "I'm a merc. I do what I'm paid to do if I deem it morally appropriate. The gun's for self-defence. Just in case I run across any strange girls in the forest."

He laughed at the last part, even though it could easily be considered threatening. But he didn't really care. "I don't poach though."

_**That's a lie and you know it.**_

"So anyway, why are you here?" Blake asked, not even waiting for her to reply to his comment. From the outside it didn't appear as though there would be any reason for his sudden erratic behaviour. But inside he was just trying to distract himself. Horus was stiring. He was overdue for a rampage.

"Why am I here?" Namida repeated half to herself. She looked down sadly and sighed. "I have nothing else, nothing but . . ." Namida trailed off not really wanting to talk about it. The truth was she really had nothing, only the fragile hope of revenge. Even then she didn't want that as much as she thought she did right now. The breeze picked up and blew her bangs in her face. With a sigh Namida pushed her hair back and looked at Blake in the eye.

Unfortunately the breeze carried their, mainly the guy's, sent. The huge lizard caught this sent few its sunning rock a few yards away. It slowly got up and started its hunt. Within minutes the lizard made it to where Namida and the boy where. Namida's eyes widened then went back to normal when she saw the lizard. She wasn't really scared or threatened by it for the single fact of her training. Also it never crossed her mind about the guy's reaction nor the lizard's to the guy.

Once the lizard saw the guy it lunged after him from behind. While it did this it knocked the gun out of the guy's hands. From hardship and experience the lizard learned the deadly truth about these guns and the death they caused. So in most cases when a human had a gun it was just a human. Leading to the belief of an easy target and meal.

"Ow..." Blake said as he retracted his hand and rubbed it, pretending that the strike had hurt his hand. It hadn't. Which was surprising seeing as how the lizzard hit Blake's gun, not his hand. Smirking slightly, Blake jumped ontop of the lizzard, putting all his weight on it's mouth to stop it from biting him. But this was only a precautionary measure so that he could quickly wrap his arm around it's neck, slowly strangling it. "Think I'm easy meat, huh?" Blake said, pulling himself to his feet as to strangle it faster. It started thrashing in his arms, and Blake, not having fought one of these with his bare hands before, slipped and accidentally let go, where the lizards tail smashed him in the face. He rolled to the floor. Jumping up in time to avoid a pounce. If only he had his sword...

_**C'mon. You know how to get it. Just use your magic. Summon your sword and kill it in no time.**_

_No! Get out of my head! _

Slightly disorientated, Blake strayed to far to the side, which the lizard took as a sign that Blake was trying to retreat. Even though he wasn't this was bad news for him. He didn't have the strength to stop one of these things flying towards him with and open mouth. He jumped back slightly so that the bite would get his right arm not his throat. But the sheer impact caused both of them to fall back, the lizard weighing nearly 200 pounds, landing ontop of Blake. Yet, despite being crushed, the lizard did not shift it's grip. Leaving Blake the pefect oppurtunity. With it's jaws already clenched, Blake slammed his palm between the lizards eyes and then rolled it onto it's back, where it struggled to get up. Blake, laughing at the scene slightly, simply walked over to his P90 and fired a few rounds into the lizards throat, killing it. Or, so he hoped.

Namida's eyes where wide with shock. The fact that the lizard attacked then Blake killed the poor thing. Namida was frozen in place for several minutes after the final shot. Bits of the blood had sprayed onto her face and her cloths. Namida felt a few tears build up in her eyes, but that grief was slowly being eaten by a stronger emotion, anger. After the shock went away Namida stormed over to the boy. "What the hell!?" Namida yelled at him not really clarifying her statement.

She then looked down at the dead body. A frown was plastered on her face. "I really don't understand, why? It didn't attack me when I was with it," Namida was now honestly confused. She brushed her hair back and sighed quietly. Something inside her told her not to wonder about it, so instead she turned back to the guy and forced a smile. "That was a nice shot, what is your name?" Namida asked now wanting to know this guy's name. It was bugging her slightly. She really didn't met that many people and something about this guy felt strange. As if there was more to him than what meets the eye. _'Could he be like me? Doubtful, but still.' _Namida thought to herself now very curious.

Blake looked at her as though she'd just grown an extra four heads. He found it odd how she could go from being angry at him for killing the lizard in one moment and then smiling at him the next. He did not realise that it had been forced. Still... he took the empty magazine out of his P90, tossing it casually to the side, and replacing it with one he had tucked in his belt. After the long tubular object had been loaded Blake pulled the lever on the side, causing the gun to make a loud clicking noise as he put a round in the chamber. Just in case he needed to use it again. After that Blake looked at Namida again.

"Blake Regena," Blake said, "I'm The King around here."

Following that, Blake systematically checked the lizard for any signs that it may have been infected by a parasite. This included checking the pupils, and cutting the dead carcass open. He didn't think that any parasite would just decide not to attack him... unless someone had used it to get to him. He tried to think of who would go to such lengths, and then who had the means of doing so, as he reached inside with his arm to try and find it. The problem was that, on the outside, there were no definate signs of being "possesed" by parasites. Which is why it was nessesscary to disect the animal after killing it.

"Nothing." Blake said, pulling his arm out of the lizards chest before cleaning it off with a towel which must've come out of nowhere, "It's probably just one of those things that you can't explain."

_**Harh. Blake, you know what caused it...**_

Namida watched the guy, Blake, cut open the lizard and fish around in it. "The King? Egotistic much? Or is it narcissistic?" Namida snickered as she mumbled this to herself. She then sighed slightly as she closed her eyes. "The lizard was hungry and it caught your sent, thus it attacked. Don't put too much thought in it," Namida said to Blake as she walked around him. She then started to look around the forest with careful glances.

Namida then looked back at Blake then measured how long it was of a run to the road. "Lots of animals get huge around here when they hunt humans. It's a simple adaptation to help their odds," Namida spoke calmly as if she wasn't human. Though she was partly, she didn't feel like she had any connection to the "human" race at times.

"We should get moving though, the scent blood will attract more creatures, some that are not normal," Namida then whipped off her face with the jack she was wearing. After getting the blood off her face she pulled the jacket off and pulled the blood off the jacket through some magic. After removing the blood Namida stuffed the jacket into her bag. Note to self, work on controlling blood cause that hurt a little,' Namida made a mental note. She really didn't try to manipulate the water in blood to move it before and it was hard. She was grateful that it wasn't a large amount only a few ounces. That was still enough to push her limit in moving it though

Blake's eyes widened slightly. She used magic as if it were a mere daily tool. Shaking his head violently he remembered what she had been talking about. "How did you know that?", despite the fact that the question had been presented as rhetoric, he was genuinely surprised at her extensive knowledge. It was rare that he saw someone with as much, if not more, experience than him. He was, after all, one of the best hunters in the world. But he didn't really care to wait for an answer. He checked his belt, checking how many clips for his P90 he had left. Three magazines. Not including the one that he had already loaded. Again he looked back at the girl. Not really knowing what to make of her. His eyes seemed to glisten in the late afternoon sunlight. "Namida, right? You're looking for someone?", his eyebrow raised at the last part, as though he knew he was right, and merely saying it for amusements sake.

After that be began looking around for his coat, before remembering where he'd left it. He hit the top of his P90 just to check wether it was loaded. It was, as he then realised that he had loaded it only moments before. That thought caused him to get slightly annoyed. He hated his memory. He could remember what he ate for breakfast the same day a year before (which was a kind of noodle soup for this particular day), but couldn't remember wether he'd loaded his favourite weapon less than ten seconds before.

Namida glared softly at Blake when he asked about her looking for some one. "Isn't everyone now and days?" Namida said avoiding the direct answer. She then looked off to the side and took a deep breath. "I'm looking for Zaika . . . my father if you could call him that," Namida said bitterly. The very word Zaika brought back many unpleasant memories and a awful taste in her mouth. "Look let's not talk about him, that . . ." Namida cut herself off and started to glance around.

The forest had suddenly become very quiet. This meant more was coming, around two. Also seeing how everything grew still this meant the two creatures, what ever they may be, where relatively powerful. The smell of blood always brought the worst out. Namida quickly drew her swords and started to look around again.

A few minutes after Namida drew her twin swords a freakish monster came into view. It had a small head, but a huge gapping maw. The skin was dry and dust color with bone like spikes sticking out of its elbows and back. The Spine was protected by many brownish red plates. It had huge hands and feet. The basic appearance could be called human so it was some kind of humanoid monster. It walked on all fours yet when it stopped moving it would stand much like a human. In all Namida wondered why people would call her a monster if much worse ones existed in the human world.

The monster looked over and saw Namida. The fist thing it did was lunge out to attack. Namida quickly dashed to the side and slashed at the creature with her left white sword. In return the creature used its shielded head to reflect the steel and then went to bite Namida in the face. Using her other black sword, Namida blocked the maw saving her from a missing face. The creature took advantage of her opening and slammed her into a tree with its left hand.

Namida coughed up blood and dropped her swords from the impacted. There was a dent in the tree from how harsh the blow was. The injured girl blinked a few times and wiped the blood from her mouth. "Damn that was cleaver," Namida mumbled slightly not use to a creature like this. She then stood back up and pulled out some tabiths. (In this case: Tabiths are rectangle pieces of paper with symbols on it) She then smeared her blood down the middle of them. The symbols in her maiden language started to glow activated by her blood. A smirk played onto Namida's face when the creature lunged out again. She threw two tabiths onto its head and chest. "Ice," Namida said calmly. Just when the creature was about to reach Namida the tabiths burst into ice and started to in cover the creature's body, thus freezing it in place.

Namida walked over to the now pillar of ice and tapped on it to check the durability. Solid. Namida smiled and then cleaned her swords off before sheathing them. She then turned to Blake. "What the hell was that!?" Namida yelled with her calm exterior shattering.

Blake, still slightly in shock at how well Namida had handled the situation, put his P90 down and walked over the the block of ice. He looked through the near clear screen of ice where the monster, strugling to keep awake, looked back at him. It tried to make a noise Blake assumed was it's equivalent of a roar. But sounded more of a combination of a howl and, although sounding odd, a ribbit of a frog. It was very odd.

"How strong is this ice?" Blake asked, looking at Namida, he was indirectly asking if he would be able to shoot through the ice without out it smashing to pieces, such had been the case before when he'd shot through an ice pillar. He wanted to see something. And cutting the monster open seemed like the only way of finding out. It looked familiar. But he went on as though he had not even asked the question. "I think, don't quote me on this, that this thing is an Imago Parasite. That is, an adult parasite that's become self sufficient."

He didn't quite understand the concept himself. But when a parasite reached a certain maturity, it would grow very rapidly into... something. Blake had never seen one. The adult parasites then "bred" by injecting their young into hosts. A parasite could live for six hours outside a host's body. The only evidence Blake had to suggest that this creature was an Imago Parasite was that it's head section, where the red plates were, was almost identical (albeit it quite a bit larger) to the parasites Blake had seen.

Namida looked at the ice then nodded. "I can make it as strong as you like, within limits," Namida said calmly as she walked over to the ice pillar again. She placed her hand on the ice and closed her eyes. Manipulation with a living creature in it would be harder yes, but possible. Namida then slowly started to drop the temperature of the ice to freeze the monster within. Then she started to harden the ice more so.

After a few minutes Namida stepped back and wiped a few beads of sweat from her forehead. "That's the best I can do with ice, sorry it isn't my specialty," Namida said honestly. If she did want to do better than what she had done then she would have to draw some of her own blood. It was weird how her clan's blood could strengthen magic. Namida believed that was common with all the clans.

Blake sighed and rubbed his hand over the ice. It should be hard enough. At least for one shell to pass through without major damage to the intergrity. Blake had dealt with the "disposal" of frozen hostiles before with his P90. Usually the ice cracked so much that the bullet's course changed and the creature was left with only a scrape, and left to freely attack once more. Blake wasn't one to make the same mistake twice.

_**C'mon. Just incinerate it with my flames... You know you want to.** _

Without even thinking about it, Blake aimed the laser sight of his P90 into the ice pillar and, once the beam was centered on the creatures skull, Blake pulled the trigger. The death was quick and painless. Blood exploded from inside the pillar, making it impossible to see the creature's former head. Blake then looked back at Namida, looking his question at her. As in, "Can you get rid of the ice, or should I?"

_**Weakling**_

Namida sighed in relief when she heard him act to remove the ice. "No problem, it was hard keeping it here with the weather being so hot," Namida said calmly. Then the ice started to drip then suddenly it turned into water and evaporated from the heat. Namida then slumped back down into sitting position.

She watched the blood ooze around the creature's body now free form the icy prison. A small shiver went up her spine. A bad omen is what it felt like for an odd reason. Namida took a deep breath and tried to gain some of the energy she lost by using ice. _Only if I would of used something else, but nooo I had to use that f***ing ice,_ Namida thought bitterly to herself. She then looked at Blake and tilted her head. "Hey what are you going to do about it seeing how you wanted to look at it right?" Namida asked referring to the monster. She also knew that is about time to leave. Now even more blood was spilt causing an even bigger smell. That was the last thing they needed right now.

_**Ah. You didn't think that through, did you? Sak'hatak.** _

_Shut up. Shut up! SHUT UP! _

Blake hit the side of his head with a free hand, trying to shake off the weariness that came with Horus' voice. He shook his head. Horus was right. He hadn't thought this through. Blood would indefinately attract more of these things... not that Blake would have trouble killing them again and again. Without even thinking, Blake's eyes gleamed. A green light engulfed the creature, shining for about five seconds and a heartbeat. When the light faded, the creature, and the blood it had leaked, had vanished into thin air. Blake rubbed his forhead.

_I can't believe I just did that! In front of someone I hardly know! _

He fell back onto his back, breathing heavily. If he could, he's say "Remind me to never do that again.", but, unfortunatly for him, he could hardly breathe. Finally, after managing to breathe in enough to say something he said:

"Give... me... a minute."

Namida blinked for a few minutes while she stared at the place the creature once was. Namida really didn't understand what had happened, but she did get that magic was used. Namida then looked over at Blake, who was now out of breath completely. Namida smiled slightly and walked over to him. Once over by Blake she stopped and sat in front of him with her knees tucked up by her chest. "Hey are you going to be okay?" Namida asked worried. Though she had just met him she felt like he was no longer just a stranger, but not a friend either or at lest not yet.

Namida tilted her head to the side and closed her eyes while she smiled. "That was pretty cool what ever you did, but you shouldn't do it unless need be if doing it hurts you." Namida said before she stood up. Then she held out her right hand still smiling. "Need a hand?"

Blake sighed heavily before taking Namida's hand to help him get up. He didn't like it, but he'd have to live with that. But he couldn't help asking himself wether or not that was actually necessary. After all, that trick was one of Blake's most valued powers. He didn't like it's overuse. But then again, he really did need to keep hold of that creatures carcass. Especially with what was coming over the horizon.

"Thanks." Blake said, after gaining his footing. He'd at least be polite about it. "But I only ever do that in situations where I deem it necessary." He looked at her and smirked slightly. Reading her expression. "I deemed it necessary."

Following that, Blake walked over to his P90 and picked it up. He'd dropped it shortly before loosing his balance before, and hated it whenever he was seperated from it. His P90 was his favourite weapon. Hands down.

"Anyhow, you were saying something about some kind of movement pattern?" Blake said in reference to her wanting to leave. It would be an idea. After all, blood attracted other monsters. And more blood attracted other, bigger monsters. Blake knew these woods in an out, almost as well as the back of his hand. Not quite though. Hence why he saved the creature's carcass. He'd examine it later.

Namida sighed slightly and watched Black for a few seconds before she turned around back to the forest. "More will be coming soon so if you don't want to fight I suggest that we get moving," Namida said as she adjusted her bag then went to tighten her two belts which held her swords. The dark one rested on her right hip and the light one on her left. Because of how she holds her swords backward from the norm this worked out for her to draw them smoothly.

She could feel the forest pulsate with a growing life. Not only was monster blood spilt, but Namida had used some of her own blood which had a habit of drawing many things like oh so sweet honey. Namida brushed her bangs out of her left eye and looked over at Blake. "Come on we need to go now," Namida urged as she slowly started to walk, but was waiting for the boy at the same time.

Blake laughed at that... almost like a manic. No doubt it was from using that dimensional rift magic eariler. He hated it when this happened, but didn't realise it during the process. That laugh carried certain qualities that weren't natural for Blake. It was several octaves lower than his normal laugh. It also sounded like to people were laughing completely in tandem. When he spoke his voice carried the same changes.

"Heh, don't worry. I'm the most dangerous thing in this forest. Let them come."

Of course this was probably untrue. But he didn't care. He could kill any of the animals in the forest. The only possible problem was if some unknown factor appeared and was stronger (or perhaps smarter) than he was. Then again... he was no pushover.

He squatted down, looking at the floor before rechecking his P90. He hated having his gun fail on him, and, as such, repeated checked and rechecked it to see if it was in working order. Being a master gunman he could tell whether his P90 was working or not simply by stroking it lightly. This did use a tiny amount of magic, which was hazardous for his health, but he could perform such trivial tasks without much risk. He also knew how many bullets were in the magazine simply by seeing how much it weighed.

Namida watched Blake like a hawk. She knew something was up with him, but wasn't quite sure what. She had a guess that it was something close to either split personalities or the magic he used. "I don't think you are the most dangerous thing here," Namida said bluntly. She wasn't implying that she was, but she knew that he wasn't.

Namida then turned around on her heels with her back facing Blake. The wind was starting to pick up in a very ominous way. Namida could tell something was yet to come. She brushed her bangs behind her ears calmly. "I hope to see you around, Blake," Namida said as she turned her head back to look at him. "After all people who don't comment on my race are hard to come by," Namida said finally admitting her non human self. After all the Hakumei clan was one of the clans in the lesser dragon base species. The girl then turned and left before Blake could say anything about it.


End file.
